Plaintiff
Christopher A. Yockey was employed by Defendant Express
Employment Professionals (“Express”) as
a temporary worker and assigned to the ADS, Inc.
(“ADS”) facility in Brazil, Indiana. Mr.
Yockey initiated this litigation on behalf of himself and a
class of similarly situated individuals, alleging that
Express violated the Fair Labor Standards Act
(“FLSA”). Mr. Yockey contends that
Express failed to compensate its employees for earned
overtime by improperly rounding time entries; automatically
deducting 30-minute meal breaks when employees did not clock
out and back in for lunch; and deducting 30 minutes for meal
breaks, even when those breaks lasted for 20 minutes or less.
Presently pending before the Court is a Second Amended Motion
to Certify Fair Labor Standards Act Collective Action.
[Filing No. 32.] For the reasons that follow, the
Court denies Mr. Yockey's motion.

I.

Relevant
Background

Express
is a staffing services company that provides, among other
services, temporary workers to a variety of businesses.
[Filing No. 33-1 at 1.] Mr. Yockey worked at ADS,
located in Brazil, Indiana, from October 18, 2015 through
November 17, 2015. [Filing No. 33-1 at 2.] According
to Express:

ADS provides a weekly timecard to employees staffed by
Express' Associates, who use the timecard to punch
in/punch out from a time clock provided by ADS. Each week,
ADS provides to Express the timecard records for the
temporary employees assigned to work at ADS by express.
Express processes the payroll checks to these temporary
employees based on the information provided by ADS.

[Filing
No. 33-3 at 6.]

Mr.
Yockey submitted a declaration alleging his experiences with
Express' timekeeping practices. [Filing No.
33-1.] He alleges that he and other workers “were
paid by Express on the basis of records maintained by the ADS
Company and delivered to Express, recording our work hours on
a time clock but rounding those hours in favor of Express so
that we received less pay.” [Filing No. 33-1 at
2.] He also alleges that he and “[he] believe[s]
other similarly situated employees of Express working at ADS
were not paid for recorded lunch breaks [sic] periods lasting
twenty minutes of [sic] less.” [Filing No. 33-1 at
2.] And finally, he alleges that when employees did not
clock out for their lunch breaks, Express
“routinely” deducted 30 minutes from their hours
worked. [Filing No. 33-1 at 2.] Mr. Yockey submitted
six time cards in support of these factual allegations.
[Filing No. 33-5.]

Mr.
Yockey submitted the following statements in his declaration
in support of his allegation that similarly situated ADS
workers were also subject to these timekeeping practices:

• “Similarly situated members of the Plaintiff
Collective Group, work, or worked, for Express at the ADS
Company facility in Brazil, Indiana, as employees paid by the
hour, ” [Filing No. 33-1 at 2];

• “All employees occupied, and are occupying these
positions have [sic] the same type of jobs with the same
essential job responsibilities as I did, ” [Filing
No. 33-1 at 2]; and

• “Upon information and belief, there are
approximately two hundred thirty-three such persons who would
fall within the proposed collective group.” [Filing
No. 33-1 at 3]

Mr.
Yockey also submitted a document (hereinafter referred to as
the “hours summary document”) that
includes 160 pages of what appear to be time entries or hours
summaries for a variety of ADS or Express personnel.
[Filing No. 34.]

II.

Motion
to Certify

A.
Collective Action ...

Our website includes the first part of the main text of the court's opinion.
To read the entire case, you must purchase the decision for download. With purchase,
you also receive any available docket numbers, case citations or footnotes, dissents
and concurrences that accompany the decision.
Docket numbers and/or citations allow you to research a case further or to use a case in a
legal proceeding. Footnotes (if any) include details of the court's decision. If the document contains a simple affirmation or denial without discussion,
there may not be additional text.

Buy This Entire Record For
$7.95

Download the entire decision to receive the complete text, official citation,
docket number, dissents and concurrences, and footnotes for this case.